September 23, 2021
2 days after I had my first jab.I was having breakfast when my mother-in-law asked whether I would like to have a hardboiled egg the next day so I said yes. Then I blurted out, "Itlog mo noy orange!". My parents-in-law laughed and my clueless partner asked, "How can an egg be orange in color?", we laughed even more...
How did I get this funny statement? Well...
Mindanao does not have a railway system so the most common types of transportations are buses and jeepneys. We have the planes though if one wants to go to and fro Davao and Cagayan de Oro. I am not sure if there are other local airports aside from these two. Zamboanga perhaps has an airport as well. But one thing is certain, local travels are definitely more fun in the Philippines. Because the buses and jeepneys always stop in the terminal. So, if there are 10 municipalities before your destination, you'll stop at all of them. And you get to travel with the fish and livestock like goats and chickens.
So when a bus stops in a terminal, either to drop or take passengers, vendors would go inside. "Itlog mo noy orange!"...Someone who hears it for the first time will probably be offended. Please don't get mad at the poor manong or kuya. He's just trying to make a living.
The correct way to say it is, "Itlog mo noy, orange". It means "Do you want hard-boiled egg and/or orange. Without the comma, the statement's meaning is changed to "Your balls are orange", yikes..Who wants that?! Most travelers before were men so the vendors would offer the egg and orange to a "Manoy" or an elder brother. You know, hard boiled eggs are the most common food to eat while traveling. Orange as in Royal True Orange was its perfect partner or other "supdrinks"...
Actually, someone joked about it on the bus when I was on my way home from Cagayan de Oro. When the vendor said "Itlog mo noy orange", a man answered "Ngano kabalo man ka?", means "How did you know?", everyone laughed. "Juk ra oi, papalita ko bi".."Just kidding, I wanna buy one".
It was pretty fun witnessing how tired, working people are still able to create something positive in an awkward situation like that.
And I respect and am proud of those terminal vendors. It isn't easy for them to chase buses and jeepneys while carrying their goods, do the sales talk, etc all day. I couldn't imagine how they'd feel if being rejected. They're the "sige lang ng sige" people. Amazing and inspiring individuals.
How about you? Have you seen how your local vendors market their goods in bus and jeepney terminals? Do you love traveling either via bus or jeep? Any funny stories to share? Comment down below and let's talk about it.
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Jasglaybam
Lead image from Unsplash
Vendor image from Mindanaonews.com
Here jeeps are only for short distances. But in bus terminals, vendors sell a lot of kinds of stuff. And to tell the truth, It has been a long time since the last I traveled on a bus here.